MAX IS BACK AND STILL MAD - Content

MAX IS BACK AND STILL MAD

For Hicksflicks.com, Friday, May 15, 2015

The only major-studio flicks this week are two sequels and a remake, or maybe that’s two remakes and a sequel (not sure how to classify “Mad Max: Fury Road”). In other words, it’s business as usual. (See blog above.)

“Mad Max: Fury Road” (R). George Miller, the filmmaker who made Mel Gibson a star with the original “Mad Max” (and its two sequels, “The Road Warrior” and “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome”) conceived this sequel/remake/whatever, with Tom Hardy taking over the role as Max and a bald Charlize Theron as a woman on a rescue mission. The trailers make this look an amped-up reboot of “The Road Warrior.”

“Pitch Perfect 2” (PG-13). Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson are back for a sequel to their unexpected 2012 musical comedy about an underdog college women’s a cappella group entering a national competition. This time it’s an international competition. Co-stars include Brittany Snow, Hailee Steinfeld, Katey Sagal, Snoop Dog and Elizabeth Banks, who also directed (in her feature-film debut).

“Far From the Madding Crowd” (PG-13). A remake of the 1967 Julie Christie film, adapted from the same Thomas Hardy novel, this version stars Carey Mulligan as the independent Bathsheba Everdene in Victorian England who inherits land and declines to marry, despite being pursued by three very different suitors (Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Sheen, Tom Sturridge).

“Where Hope Grows” (PG-13) is a faith film about a down-on-his-luck, self-pitying former pro baseball player-turned-alcoholic who’s also a single parent (Kristoffer Polaha). At his lowest ebb he meets a grocery-store employee with Down syndrome (David DeSanctis, an actor with Down syndrome) whose optimistic attitude gives him hope.

“Gett: The Trial of Vivianne Ansalem” (not rated, in Hebrew with English subtitles). Israeli film about the difficulties of a woman seeking a divorce in Israel, where such a ruling is up to a rabbinical court but most of the power is actually in the hands of the husband. (Exclusively at the Broadway Centre Cinemas.)

“Dior and I” (not rated) is a documentary that takes viewers inside the contemporary Christian Dior fashion house, focusing on the creation of Raf Simons’ first haute couture collection. (Exclusively at the Broadway Centre Cinemas.)